[NatureNS] RE: Common sense and caution

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From: David Webster <dwebster@glinx.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2020 09:56:36 -0300
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Dear Peter and All,

     Just be aware that in some circumstances one size does not fit all.

     Your hypothetical crowd of 40,000 or 100,000 overloading a park or 
trail sounds like part of an Austin Powers movie that was cut because it 
far exceeded the bounds of hypoberole.

     Frankly I doubt that even Halifax Parks would experience such 
numbers. In the boonies ten would be a record in most locations.

     In compliance with the decree from Halifax all public parks and 
trails in Kentville were closed. The Rail Trail was perhaps justified, 
at least until more places were improvised where people could pass >6' 
apart, but closing the Gorge Trail was overkill. I have walked there 
many times directly from home and have seen ONE other person in the 
park  once. And if by chance a string of two to five were encountered 
there is ample space between trees for safe passing distance.

     And turning to more general topics--

It is widely recognized that contact with the natural world has a 
positive effect on mental health and how people view the world and their 
place in it. It is of exceptional value in times of stress.
For example:

     Isaiah 5:8 KJV; "Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay 
field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in 
the midst of the earth."

     Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam;" With me along the strip of herbage strown 
That just divides the desert from the sown".

     The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; "He prayeth best, who loveth best 
All things both great and small;"

     If we can not weather this Covid-19 storm and remain civil then we 
will utterly fail the only real problem ahead; runaway Climate Change 
which has already effected massive destruction elsewhere.

YT, W, Kentville

On 4/25/2020 11:22 PM, Parker Donham wrote:
> Henk and Jane:
>
> Multiply one solitary, probably harmless trip to a park or a trail by 
> 40,000 or 100,000, and you can see why the Emergency Public Health 
> Order prohibits it. Many, many Nova Scotians—not just virtuous 
> birders—would like to make such park visits. They are prohibited from 
> doing so because, if they weren't prohibited, people would die. I want 
> to heed John and Nhung's injunction to keep this discussion polite and 
> respectful, but it just seems selfish to make an exception of one's 
> own activities while other citizens are conscientiously observing an 
> order public health experts deem necessary to prevent avoidable 
> illness and death during the pandemic emergency. Incidentally, the 
> number of Americans who have died from Covid-19 just surpassed the 
> number of US combat deaths in WWII.
>
> Parker
>
> On Sat, Apr 25, 2020 at 9:32 PM Henk Kwindt <hjcbatl@gmail.com 
> <mailto:hjcbatl@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     I am also with Dave on this.
>     It is not so that everybody has to stay home, as pointed out
>     before. There are numerous groups of people that the rule does not
>     apply to. The one that bugs me most is that they arranged
>     planeloads of people to come
>     back from highlyi contagious areas and then depend on “self
>     isolation” (except for the first load which was contained at CFB
>     Trenton).
>     Leaving parks and trails open, especially for children and parents
>     would have been more beneficial than the negative possibilities.
>     Can’t imagine that a  family with a couple of young children in a
>     small apartment in the city would benefit from the present rules.
>     Henk Kwindt, Cow Bay, NS.
>
>>     On Apr 25, 2020, at 8:12 PM, David Webster <dwebster@glinx.com
>>     <mailto:dwebster@glinx.com>> wrote:
>>
>>     Dear All and Shouty,
>>
>>         That is a darn good question. How and when this can be done I
>>     do not know but we need a better Premier.
>>
>>         I wish to emphasize that failure to inform the public is my
>>     primary concern. Some people, especially those in the food
>>     industry (Truckers, Farmers, wholesalers and retail outlets),
>>     Power, Communication, Medical and Emergency related, have to keep
>>     working as usual. There frequently is more than one way to get
>>     from A to B and it only makes sense to keep the public informed
>>     of unusually high concentrations of active cases in the
>>     community. For effective management of this disease surely this
>>     information is extracted.
>>
>>         The finest breakdown I have seen is case count by region
>>     (Central, Western, Eastern and Northern) with Community and
>>     Nursing Home numbers pooled. Even at the region level why are the
>>     counts for Community and Nursing Homes not segregated ? WHY ?
>>
>>         Apologies in advance for getting beyond Natural History
>>     topics but a barrier has been erected between members of Naturens
>>     and the world of nature and it shows.
>>
>>     YT, DW, Kentville
>>
>>     On 4/25/2020 7:35 PM, Shouty McShoutsalot wrote:
>>>     All
>>>     We can’t stay on lockdown forever.  The virus isn’t going
>>>     anywhere. What’s the endgame?
>>>
>>>     On Sat, Apr 25, 2020 at 6:12 PM David Schlosberg
>>>     <dschlosb-g@ns.sympatico.ca <mailto:dschlosb-g@ns.sympatico.ca>>
>>>     wrote:
>>>
>>>         I walked in parks before they were closed and I walk on the
>>>         permitted trails.  If the trails are made one way only,
>>>         people are quite good about keeping the 6 foot distance. 
>>>         Also, the parking lots can be kept closed to prevent the
>>>         “hordes”, and only allow the parks and trails that are
>>>         reasonably open, where people bunching up can be easily
>>>         seen.  One guard in a park like Miner’s Marsh can patrol and
>>>         issue tickets—not for $1000, but certainly for $100.  That
>>>         would be a sufficient deterrent.  People can be scofflaws on
>>>         city sidewalks just as easily.
>>>
>>>
>>>         *From:* naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca
>>>         <mailto:na